Paragas rushed out of their house and climbed down the ravine and found the dog near the bottom of it. The dog was shaking in fear and was probably in great pain.

“I tried to call her to come to me. But she was so shaken and scared, she wouldn’t move from where she was,” Paragas recalled.

Shortly after, Paragas noticed a car’s headlight from atop the ravine. He climbed up and saw the man who threw the dog into the ravine. He was later identified as Adrian Spancky Raya.

Raya allegedly asked Paragas to turn over the dog to him.

“I was so enraged I think I used some colorful words on him,” Paragas narrate

“I told him that he is not going to get back the dog and that the police has been called.”

Sensing that Paragas was determined, Raya left the scene.

Paragas later reviewed his home surveillance video and gave it to authorities.

Animal Control Officer Armando Ferrufino of the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control (DACC) investigated the case and turned it over to the District Attorney’s office for prosecution.

Raya was convicted of cruelty to an animal and sentenced to two years in a state prison.
When told he was to receive the Courageous Citizens Award for the deed Paragas said, “I didn’t really expect it. All along I thought that what I did was just the right thing to do. And I will do it over again, if I get another chance.”

The award received by Paragas has been given out by the LA District Attorney’s office since 1986 to “individuals who have acted with courage and at considerable personal risk to help a victim of crime, assist in the capture of a suspect or testify in the face of extraordinary pressures.”